Jet Fighters Collide Over Adirondacks

WELLS, N.Y. — Two Air National Guard jet fighters collided Wednesday over a remote area of the Adirondacks during a training mission and crashed into the woods, officials said.

One pilot was reported injured. The fate of a second was unknown.

A spokesman for the 104th Tactical Fighter Group of the Massachusetts Air National Guard said the two single-seat crafts, A-10 Thunderbolt jets from a group stationed in Westfield, Mass., crashed after the collision about 2:45 p.m. EDT over the tiny mountain town of Wells.

The cause of the collision has not been determined.

Pilot Michael Kohut, 33, of Chicopee, Mass., was taken by National Guard helicopter to Albany Medical Center Hospital, where he was conscious and ''in pretty good condition'' with lower back pain and some cuts, hospital spokesman Elmer Streeter said.

A spokesman for the New York Department of Environmental Conservation said three rangers were sent to an area where two parachutes were seen descending after the crash. A helicopter also was assisting the operation, he said.

The jets were headed for Fort Drum, an Army training base near Watertown, N.Y., said Air Force officials.